Still Life

2018 | 15 mins | for cello and guitar

PH-929, 1974 (Black)

Groove

PH-247, 1951 (Blue)

Scherzo

PH-960, 1960 (Space)

Albion

PH-972, 1959 (Colour)

Still Life (2018) is a celebration of the life and work of the abstract artist Clyfford Still (1904-1980). Four of the movements are musical meditations on Still’s paintings – these are interspersed with three movements that explore Still’s passion for Jazz, Beethoven, and William Blake.

The paintings that give their names to movements 1, 3, 5, and 7, exemplify four tropes in Still’s work – black paintings, blue paintings, paintings that use a lot of space and emptiness, and paintings that use areas of highly contrasting colours.

Still Life was commissioned by Patrick Sutton and Kimberly Patterson. The first performance took place at the Clyfford Still Museum, Denver, CO, on 21st March 2019.

Songs of Ophelia

Songs of Ophelia was commissioned by Adélia Issa and Edelton Gloeden who gave the first performance on 11th August 2016 at the Mindlin Library, University of São Paulo, Brazil. They will record the work in September. The text is taken from Act 4 Scene 5 of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

The Miller's Tale

2015 | 10 mins | for solo theorbo

Prologue

Estampie, John

Chanson, Alisoun

Toccata, Nicholas

Serenade, Absalon

Epilogue

“Editor’s Choice” Gramophone, August 2017 “Loosely based on the form and characters of Chaucer’s yarn, it exploits the distinctive tunings, shades and resonances of the theorbo. Goss weaves together an eclectic range of influences in an idiomatic work – at once retrospective and forward-looking.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2017

The Miller’s Tale is based on one of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. It was commissioned by John Williams for Matthew Wadsworth. The piece received its first performance at the Wigmore Hall in London, on 6th March 2017. The performance was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. The score is published by Doberman.

The Book of Songs

2014 | 18 mins | for tenor and guitar

text by Chinese poets from 800 BC to 700 AD

She Threw me a Quince

Oh, You with the Blue Collar

Plucking the Rushes

Pastoral

In the Tavern

Lament

“Goss’s ‘The Book of Songs’ is a striking series of miniatures, written with clear understanding of Bostridge’s distinctive instrument. The voice croons in musical androgyny in ‘Oh, you with the blue collar’ and barks in broken speech in ‘In the tavern’ " Gramophone, November 2016

River Winds

*Commissioned for The Playground Ensemble by Henry Sanger as a birthday present for his wife Joyce. The first performance was given by Sarah Johnson, violin, and Heidi Leathwood, piano, on 18th September at Matsu Kaze, Littleton, Colorado.

Welsh Folksongs

2008 | 12 mins | for voice and guitar

Dafydd y Garreg Wen

Wrth fynd hefo Deio i Dywyn

Suo-gân

Lliw Gwyn Rhosyn yr Haf

Lisa Lân

Hela’r ‘Sgyfarnog

“This group of short Welsh folksongs never outstays its welcome, the composer’s inventive powers using the instruments to great effect… Stephen Goss brings to each piece a keen musical intelligence that does not preclude the warmth of an instinctual response. I believe that these qualities make him one of the most consistently interesting composers in Britain today.” Colin Cooper, Classical Guitar Magazine

Welsh Folksongs

2008 | 12 mins | for melodic instrument and guitar

Dafydd y Garreg Wen

Wrth fynd hefo Deio i Dywyn

Suo-gân

Lliw Gwyn Rhosyn yr Haf

Lisa Lân

Hela’r ‘Sgyfarnog

“This group of short Welsh folksongs never outstays its welcome, the composer’s inventive powers using the instruments to great effect… Stephen Goss brings to each piece a keen musical intelligence that does not preclude the warmth of an instinctual response. I believe that these qualities make him one of the most consistently interesting composers in Britain today.” Colin Cooper, Classical Guitar Magazine

Park of Idols

2005 | 12 mins | for cello and guitar

Jump Start

Cold Dark Matter

Fractured Loop

Malabar Hill

The Raw

Sharjah

“Stephen Goss does not write in a vacuum, and the piece contains references to Frank Zappa, Cornelia Parker (who destroyed a garden shed in a controlled explosion), Shostakovich, Pat Metheney, John McLaughlin, Allan Holdsworth and Robert Fripp. Bewildering? Not at all: Stephen Goss synthesises the lot, making it a personal expression that is rare in the guitar world. And when I read that Fractured Loop is built from reorganised fragments of a Pat Metheney guitar solo superimposed over a cello pizzicato bass line, I was impatient to hear it. The result is one-and-a-half minutes of total pleasure, modern jazz and modern classical at the same time.” Colin Cooper, Classical Guitar Magazine

Commissioned by Dexter Norville, who gave the first performance at the University Surrey on 21st May 2003 and subsequent performances in Barbados, West Indies. Second performance given by Ian Clark at the All Flutes Festival July 2003.

First Milonga, Last Tango

2002 | 8 mins | for flute and guitar

“First Milonga is serene and stately… Last Tango has a bite which could splinter the guitar: at times aggressive, at times bitter but performed with a conviction that drew you in.” Classical Guitar Magazine